...grabbed the Chronivac, his adorably adolescent features twisted in a determined scowl.
"This is your fault," he spat at Jacob. "There's no way I'm gonna let you make things even worse."
"Kris, don't!" Jacob stood, wrapped his hands around the other half of the device, and pulled. "You don't know how it works! Please, I can fix this if you just give me a chance!"
"Look at me!" Kris squealed as he indignantly pulled back. "I don't even know if my balls have dropped yet! If I let you have your way, I'll be in diapers next!"
"I wouldn't DO that!" Jacob countered as he tugged, despite the fact that he had on multiple occasions fantasized about Kris making an abrupt return to his toddlerhood. "Just give it back!"
The two boys used every bit of their diminished strength in a tug-of-war that quickly drew the attention of both Dave and Rick, the two of them looking up from their work and staring in disbelief at how much their co-workers were acting like, well, kids.
"Hey! Knock that off right now!" Dave commanded, his befuddlement undermining the authoritative tone he was trying to set. "Whatever that thing is, it's not worth fighting over!"
"Seriously!" Rick added, his eyes following the back-and-forth of the Chronivac. "What's gotten into you boys?"
"I. AM NOT. A BOY!" Kris cried, punctuating each phrase with a pull. "I. AM. A - "
His protest was cut short when the Chronivac started to vibrate in his and Jacob's hands, the two boys staring in horror at the multitude of error messages that popped up on its screen after being handled so roughly and having so many of its buttons pressed.
"Okay, okay!" Kris squealed as he shoved the device in Jacob's hands. "Just - just fix it! Please!"
Jacob, discombobulated, studied the flickering screen in a desperate attempt to figure out what was wrong with the device. What he found instead - his scrunched eyes widening in panic at the discovery - was what the Chronivac had in store for them. As a last-ditch effort he tried to push the sequence of keys that'd initiate a hard reboot, his finger just about to slam down on the last button when the words CHANGES EXECUTED appeared on the screen in big, bold, horribly clear letters.
An instant later a wave surged through him, a sphere of force that made its way through the office and all of its inhabitants at lightning speed. Jacob could do nothing but cry out in surprise and bottomless dread as the changes that he had seen were in store for him and his co-workers started taking place. It was not a surprise when he started getting smaller, when what little maturity he had left melted from a body that was being pulled deeper and deeper into its childhood. It was not a surprise when he saw that the same thing happening to Kris, the boy on the verge of tears and pulling at his softening hair as he watched himself grow ever closer to the expanding floor. It was not even a surprise when he spun around and saw Rick and David experiencing their first regressions, the two adults needing a long way to go before they reached the depths of their co-workers but clearly growing younger by the second just the same.
What did surprise him - what drove home the true power of the transformation - was how complete it was.
A boyish little yelp escaped from Jacob's lips when he felt a cool breeze between his skinny, hairless legs, when he looked down to realize that he wore nothing but cartoon briefs from the waist down. In an instant, though, he knew that things couldn't stop there - he knew what sort of underwear was meant for kids the age he was destined for. He whimpered and squirmed as those cartoon briefs swelled and puffed between his increasingly pudgy thighs, losing their cool big-kid design and instead adopting the image of a smiling Elmo and Big Bird as it finished its transformation into a soft, crinkly, leg-spreadingly thick disposable diaper.
Kris wailed like the baby he was becoming and snapped Jacob out of the trance the change had lulled him into. He looked up in just in time to see Kris' underwear complete its own transformation, though he was not even granted the honor of Sesame Street characters - nor that of a shirt. The garment disappeared as his undies became a diaper of the most virginal white, even thicker and crinklier than Jacob's own, one befitting a boy that had just entered the realm of toddlerhood. His hair had turned wispy and almost platinum blonde, an appropriate topper for a baby who looked like Cupid in the flesh. Chubby before, Kris was positively plump now, his swollen, wobbly belly spilling over the waistband of his horribly immature garment.
In a daze, Jacob turned to see that Rick had settled into his newly youthened body as well, big brown eyes wide and wondering as he stared gobsmacked at his adorable little toddler self. His best friend wore nothing but a diaper that matched Jacob's and a t-shirt that sorta did (Charmander - a glance down revealed to Jacob that he was sporting Squirtle). The Pampers popped off of Rick's dark skin and the boy's hair - typically shaved and styled with immaculate precision - had puffed into a little baby afro.
David had at least been spared the indignity of pantlessness, though he didn't seem too aware of his good fortune. His hair had grown fine and regained its crimson luster, flowing down to his shoulders with such grace that one might at first mistake him for a girl. Though very much a toddler, David was at least a slightly older than Jacob and Rick, big enough to earn a pair of short-alls and the striped shirt he wore beneath it. And even though they couldn't be seen through that outfit, the way Rick cringed as he stepped from foot to foot suggested that there were definitely some form of padded undies hiding underneath.
But the completeness of the transformation did not stop with their new outfits. When Jacob looked up to see what had become of his co-workers, he also saw that their desks, chairs and computers had vanished. In their place sat a pile of stuffed toys, a brightly-colored toy cabinet, a closet of art supplies, a - *gulp* - fully stocked changing table. The walls had shifted from their demure gunmetal gray to a bright baby blue. Smiling animals sailed a sea of letters on cartoon sailboats. The carpet, once scratchy and thin, had become so soft and plush that a tired little tyke could curl right up on it and take a nap if he so desired.
It was a daycare. And they were its captives.
"What's all the ruckus in here?"
All four men turned babies looked up to see James step over the gate separating his office - now one befitting a daycare manager - from their room. He stepped to Jacob and looked down at him with a smile on his face and his hands on his hips, at the gaping little boy who still clutched the Chronivac in his tiny, pudgy hands.
"Where'd you get that from, kiddo? That looks like a big boy toy if you ask me."
"I...I..." No explanation would come, and the babyish squeak in which he spoke wasn't making things any easier.
"Why don't you just let me hang onto this until we figure out who it belongs to, okay?"
With that, James effortlessly plucked it from his hands, the strongest grip the toddler could manage a trifle to the man's awesome adult strength. The boss turned caretaker then returned to his office, turning the Chronivac over in his hands in mild interest as he did so. Jacob stared after him for a moment before he realized that the rest of his co-workers were staring at him - and, from what he saw on the screen, he knew that...